No. No, no,
no. I can’t lose him. I cannot. In these terribly depressing times, when my
career has failed and my luck’s pulled a Houdini on me, Lucien and Henry are
the only people making my life worthwhile. I really, really anticipate seeing
him every morning, making him breakfast, talking to him. I don’t want him to
go.

“Tumor, did
you say?” My lip wobbles.

“I didn’t
mean to scare you.” He puts both his hands under the arch of his back for
support. Does it still hurt there? “Maybe it’s my imagination, but when I was
diagnosed with cancer four years ago, I felt a similar pain in my back, and I
was confident it was nothing…but I was wrong,” Henry says, in a voice that
milks every ounce of my emotions.

I don’t
want to cry for him. But I do. On the inside.

And then
poof goes my promise to not get near him, not touch him, not put my arms around
him, draw him close and comfort him. I do it all.

My cheek
sweeps an arc over his shoulder blade, and in those moments, the world is pure
and beautiful and there is no such thing as fear. I don’t even recoil.

Maybe, I think, it’s
because I know he’s a good person. The reason doesn’t even matter. What
matters is to comfort him.

“Don’t feel
bad for me.” Henry winds one arm around me.

The urge to
protect him that arises within me at that moment tells me more than I need to
know.

“I’m not
feeling bad for you. I’m praying that you’re wrong.”

I don’t
even recognize the person who says that.

When did I
become someone who cares for other
people? When did Henry Stone become someone who could tear my soul to pieces
with a simple glance? When did he go from being a nobody I wouldn’t look at
twice in a million years to making my heart race like a F1 racecar in his
presence? Have I been blind all along or has he always been so fuckin’
beautiful?

Author Bio

Sasha Clinton discovered romance novels at the age of thirteen and has been addicted to the genre ever since. After getting a degree in Chemical Engineering and realizing that there was no way she could ever be an engineer, she decided to follow her passion and write romance novels. Sasha has lived in New Delhi, Melbourne, Manchester and Boston and continues to move frequently. But wherever she is, she’s hard at work on her next book.